Filgotinib reached another milestone and graduates with honors! With the release of the FINCH1 and FINCH3 study results, we have the data for filgotinib to prepare the filing of this novel medicine as a safe and effective drug for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. What a long history precedes this hallmark event: 20 years ago I started Galapagos with 2 scientists, focused on building a platform to discover novel targets. In 2003 we set up the assay that brought us JAK1 as the target for RA. In 2005 we started chemistry, in 2010 filgotinib went into its first testing in man.
A long and exciting journey that, if everything goes to plan, will have us and our partner Gilead bring this medicine to doctors and patients in the near future. It will not stop here, filgotinib is in clinical testing for 10 other diseases, and with the excellent safety profile that this drug has shown, we believe that the impact on a great number of inflammatory diseases will be very large.
I am celebrating the event with all my colleagues, many of whom have worked on filgotinib at some point in their life at Galapagos. It takes many great minds, expertise, stamina and patience to get a project like this from start to finish, and I am very grateful to all that participated in the success. I am also happy for the patients that may see an effective safe and convenient treatment option coming to the market, and hopefully it will be to the benefit of many in the coming years.
Galapagos now has more than 700 people, working on various different disease programs, but we stay close to our values that brought us filgotinib: innovation, focus on the science, drive and passion, and always, always, raising the bar!
Up to the next one, this is just the beginning…
Onno